Stronghold
by Andaeeee
Summary: The story of a man and his son as they experience a zombie outbreak. Please rate and review, constructive criticism welcome!


Title : Stronghold

Rating : M, suitable for mature teens and older

AN : This is my first attempt at a fanfic and I'm a budding author so if anyone could review the story then that would be fantastic! Well this is a simple tale of survival at first, but later on the story gets, well, lets just say a bit more interesting! Enjoy!

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Chapter One

"_Authorities are warning citizens to stay indoors, lock all doors and-" _Mick Travers shuddered slightly and reached over to turn off the TV, all the warnings weren't exactly making him feel better about the situation. He ran a trembling hand through his smart black hair, he never was any good at staying calm when he knew he was in danger. There was some sort of outbreak; like something out of a film Mick had secretly watched in his childhood at night when his parents were asleep, overnight, for reasons unknown to Mick, most of the population had turned into crazed violent animals, interested only in attacking anyone that isn't infected with the mysterious virus.

He reached over and half pulled open a set of orange curtains, letting a small ray of light into the darkened room. At a first glance the scene outside looked fairly normal, just like it did every morning. There was the old corner shop, the row of shabby houses across the street and the pair of bright red swings next to them. But something was different, there was somethingwrong with the scene. It was far too quiet and there was a distinct feeling of eeriness in the air; what was usually a fairly busy street, passed by most of the town every day, was abnormally quiet. Well, besides the two men standing in the middle of the road.

Two men standing in the middle of the road? Surely they must be out of their mind? Well no, not exactly. The men were two unfortunate victims of the outbreak, leaving them shells of their former selves and hungry for the flesh of the uninfected populace. As Mick watched them the door of the corner shop suddenly burst open, revealing the owner, Bill Wilkes, standing in the doorway holding a small revolver (where he could have acquired it Mick had no idea). He began yelling at the two men, exactly what he was saying was unknown to Mick as he had sealed his windows shut. As he did so one of the men turned and stared blankly at Bill and tilted his head, perhaps trying to work out whether he should attack him or not. If this was the case he must have worked it out very quickly. The man suddenly let out a sort of bestial growl and charged at Bill. In the blink of an eye the man was tackling Bill to the ground, a single gunshot rang through the air as he tried in vain to defend himself but it was no use, he was quite an old man and a young energetic monster of a man would have no trouble overpowering him. The air was then filled with a series of horrible screams that made the hairs on the back of Mick's neck stand up, and he knew that Bill was no more. He let out a sharp gasp, tugged the curtains shut again and tried to shut out the dying screams of a well-loved member of the town.

"Dad? What the hell was that?" came a small voice from above him. Mick grimaced and went over to the stairs a small mousey-haired six year old boy was standing at the top of them clad in a thick red jumper and a pair of denim jeans, with a mixed look of fear, confusion and interest on his face. He then slowly began descending the stairs towards his father

"It's nothing James don't worry 'bout it, oh and don't say hell kiddo, it ain't nice!" he replied, poking him gently in the stomach when he had got down the stairs, with an look of pretend anger on his face. James giggled and poked him back much harder.

"Yeah whatever" he muttered.

"Right then kiddo, we gotta get off now" said Mick, starting towards the door. James looked at him with a confused expression on his face and then began to follow him slowly.

"Where are we going?" he asked suspiciously.

"Ah, now that ones a surprise" replied Mick as he pulled on a thick leather coat. "If you stop asking about it you _may_ just get a little something when we get there." He turned around and laughed when he saw the new expression that James had on his face, like Christmas had come early. He hurried past Mick, quickly pulled on his shoes and stood obediently by the door with a big grin plastered on his face.

"Forgot ya coat" chuckled Mick, as he threw him the purple raincoat that he detested. He looked up with a look horror on his face.

"But... But I hate this one!" he spluttered. Mick sighed and pulled the blackmail card again.

"Oh, so I guess you don't want your secret surprise then" he replied. After a few seconds James scowled at him and roughly pulled it on. Mick grabbed his car keys from their hook by the door and was about to step outside when he remembered that he needed something important. A weapon.

"Wait here a second kiddo, I gotta get something from the kitchen." he told James as he stepped towards the kitchen. Mick stepped into the white tiled, smart looking kitchen and walked over to one of the drawers. He pulled it open and found what he was looking for almost immediately, the largest knife that the family owned. Mick picked it up and cut the air with it a few times, before being satisfied with it and stowing it carefully into his back pocket. He breathed deeply and made a silent prayer that he would never have to actually use it.

"Whatcha get?" asked James curiously as he returned. Mick forced a smile and tapped his nose with a long, bony finger.

"That's for me to know and _you_ to find out!" he replied. He stepped towards the door, opened it slightly and peered out. The two men from earlier had disappeared, as had the corpse of Bill. Mick didn't want to think about what might have happened to it. He pushed the door open fully and stepped out into the morning sunlight, sensing no danger he motioned for James to follow him. Mick locked the door behind them as James exited and together they wandered towards Mick's car. It was an old Ford Capri, the fact that it was still running was a great surprise to most people as it literally was an old rust bucket, the paint was chipped in places and the whole car had a worn and rough feeling to it. Mick took out his keys and opened the car doors, the two climbed In and securely fastened their seatbelts.

"Why can't you get a car that's actually good?" asked James, "You know, one like Eric's dad has." Mick roared with laughter as he pulled out of the driveway.

"Because I have a good taste in cars" he replied smugly. James shook his head and settled down in his seat for the journey, the journey to somewhere that Mick was still to figure out. The truth was that Mick wasn't sure where they were going, at the moment all he knew was that it was somewhere far away from home. He hoped that the infection hadn't reached the north of the country yet, as his brother lived somewhere in the North and Mick's basic plan was to head there.

"Dad... What's with all the cars?" asked James timidly. Mick looked up and immediately realised what he was talking about. Ahead, there were a ludicrous amount of car wrecks littering along the road, some with open doors and some, with the original inhabitants still strapped inside.

"James, I want you to put your hands over your eyes and don't move them until I say so alright?" said Mick firmly.

"But-"

"Just do it" growled Mick. James looked at his father with fear in his eyes and immediately did as he was told. It seemed as though many more people had the same idea as Mick, but were unsuccessful._ Poor bastards..._ A sudden roar ripping through the air bought him back to reality.

"Dad?" squeaked James.

"Don't worry man, don't worry. It's nothing to worry about." replied Mick vaguely. More roars and growls followed the original, and Mick could see that on the horizon, a huge horde of infected were heading towards them. His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel and he gently pressed his foot down harder on the accelerator. Mick was out of ideas, his only hope was that he could somehow navigate through them, but as they neared the group they saw that that would be quite impossible. There were no visible gaps in their ranks, and they couldn't drive through them.... Or could they?

"OK James, you're going to feel a lot of bumps and crashes and hear a lot of strange noises. But _don't_ look or scream or do anything OK?" Mick told him firmly. James made a sort of nervous squeak and Mick assumed that meant he acknowledged him and agreed.

When they were about to hit the group of infected Mick suddenly floored it into them, and immediately realised that it had been a terrible idea. He had managed to drive into the middle of the group, but that was as far as he was going to get.

"No. No no no no" he muttered as he tried in vain to start the car moving again. The infected began smashing and clawing at the car, desperately trying to get in.

"Dad! What's happening?!" yelled James over the noise.

"Get under the dashboard James! NOW!" Mick yelled back. James quickly scuttled under and curled up into a ball. As the infected continued to smash at the car, he knew that it was only a matter of time before they were both dead.

"James" said Mick on the verge of tears "I love you man, you know that? Just tell me that you know alright?"

"I do!" screamed James, in tears himself. Suddenly to the right of him, one of the infected smashed the side window and began clawing at Mick. On instinct he drew out his knife and began wildly cutting at the arm.

"YOU BASTARDS! GO ON AND TAKE ME THEN!" he screamed as he did so. It seemed to be doing little to no damage, or the infected woman was doing a very good job of not showing any pain. Just as the infected smashed through the windscreen, a burst of gunfire ripped through the morning air. Mick heard a roar of pain; presumably from one of then infected, and then more gunfire, more than one gun it seemed, it must have been at least three. After a few more seconds the roaring of the infected had stopped, and so had the bursts of gunfire.

Mick sat there breathing heavily, what had happened? Had they been saved? After what seemed like an age, a woman's face appeared at the window next to Mick. She had short brown hair and was wearing a black jumper.

"Hey Max! We got live ones over here!"


End file.
